College can be expensive! But there are many ways students and families can make the process accessible and affordable. There are a few different kinds of financial aid applications and awards it's important to understand. You can also take a look at the resources here for some more details.
One of the main acronyms you'll hear thrown around throughout the college application process is FAFSA. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), California Dream Act Application (CADAA), and College Scholarship Service Profile (CSS) are each singular applications submitted to all or many of the schools you are applying to. These documents require personal financial and tax information from families to estimate the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC). Each institution has a different process for calculating financial aid, but you can get a general idea of the numbers using tools like MyinTuition, the Federal Student Aid Estimator, and Net Price Calculators listed on school websites.
Once a school has calculated EFC, they will subtract it from their Estimated Cost of Attendance. This estimate usually includes tuition, housing, food, and textbook estimates for the upcoming school year. The difference between ECA and EFC is called the financial need. Every school you send the FAFSA, CADAA, or CSS to will provide you a "Financial Aid Package" based on this calculated financial need. Usually, this package includes a combination of grants, loans, and employment.
Grants are funds that do not have to be repaid. Grants are usually awarded on the basis of need alone and can come from a variety of sources -- Pell Grants (federal money), state grants (Cal Grants are available to students attending California colleges.), and grant money from the college's own resources.
Loans must be repaid, generally after you have graduated or left school, and usually have lower interest rates than commercial loans. Federal loan amounts are capped annually. There are also federal loans available to parents up to the difference between the cost of education and other financial aid awarded.
Federal Work Study involves earning money as payment for a job, usually one arranged for you by the college. Students normally work up to ten hours a week in an on-campus job they apply for once at school. The money comes to the student in the form of a paycheck and can be used for college expenses.
Scholarships are awards that never need to be paid back. Many are provided by outside organizations and have unique requirements and applications. You can find more information about scholarship search tools on our "Scholarships" page. Many institutions also review student applications for merit based scholarship consideration. These awards are entirely separate from the need based grants calculated using the applications listed above.
Some schools also provide athletic scholarships. Athletes can take a look at the "Applying as an Athlete" page for some additional information.
ROTC programs are also available at select institutions. These scholarships cover tuition, books, and additional monthly stipend. They also require a certain length of military service after degree completion. Students interested in ROTC scholarships and additional futures in the U.S. Military can take a look at the "U.S. Military" page.